Is It More Harmful Then It Is Helpful to Most Ppl
AA/NA has a pretty good deal going, at least for most people. Alcoholics Anonymous & Narcotics Anonymous meet up to three times per day. A group of alcoholics & drug addicts meet to discuss a variety of topics pertaining to extending their consecutive days of maintaining sobriety.
That's an awesome idea, don't you think? Ummm, NO! That makes all of zero sense to me. You mean to tell me that a bunch of addicts sitting in a manner so that each person can view or be viewed by everyone else in the room, while discussing their past for an hour long sessions. If I'm trying to not have a certain chemical completely consume my every thought & all that comes with these thoughts, well sure as hell don't need to be sitting around discussing & thinking about it. I need to keep my distance from this "drug of choice."
So overall I think the program works... For most people, I guess. If you are the one "working the steps" does not work for here is another option. You need to find hobbies to fill your slow time.
Any thoughts or comments would be greatly appreciated & viewed with an open mind.
I've been to meetings in 9 states over the course of 35 years and I've never been to one that was an hour of talking about drugs and alcohol. If AA/NA doesn't work for you, fine. But your description makes me think you misunderstood something
The common Open Discussion meeting is a time to discuss reasons and methods to stay clean for another day. Sometimes there is a little sharing of past stories but only to show the errors of wrong thinking. Even in Speaker Meetings, where one person really does stand up and share their story, usually about half of it is the part about getting clean.
We are told to share our "Experience, strength, and hope", and the way I was taught, only that first part could be thought of as stories of our past. But really, for me and for millions of sober and clean 12 step program members, it's about the experience of getting straight, the strength we get from others, and the hope of being there, clean and sober another day, to help others.
I hope you will try other meetings. If you feel uncomfortable speaking, simply say "Pass" or find structured discussion meetings where they share readings or have a panel of speakers. If not, good luck with whatever you do find. The one thing I know for sure that never works is hiding from the problem.